Deceptive Wind
by EthoSloth
Summary: Sarutobi is an old man, but he is also the Hokage. Kakashi wants to see his sensei's son thrive and...win a bet? Fugaku Uchiha tries to avoid the inevitable. A logical Naruto, insightful Shikamaru, and humanity's strongest fighter-to be, Lee, have to face the strange challenge that is blocking their paths as shinobi, the academy. Focus and tread carefully, or you might just slip.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The Sandaime Hokage was not a pushover. In his prime, it had been said that he had surpassed all his predecessors, although this was still up for debate. The only problem with Hiruzen was that unlike the previous Hokage, he did not have moments of genius and was not someone who was born for greatness. He was someone who sat firm on the pedestal he had worked tirelessly to reach.

However, even he, the genius of hardwork could realise that in times of great need, he'd have to resort to relying upon true genius, in this case, one Tobirama Senju.

This was how he found himself searching through the hundreds of parchments and research papers Tobirama had written in his youth, hoping and praying that he would find something, anything, to help him out of this spiralling hole that was swallowing Konoha.

The Will Of Fire had been a commendable concept at the start, of course. All happiness and peace. Sarutobi Hiruzen had fallen into this illusion of rest a long, long time ago. But now he was forced to stop the fire before it lay waste to the forest that birthed it.

Some while back, Tobirama-Sensei had devised a plan, trying to organise the Shinobi Corps of that era. He based his foundation on the Academy. Boosting the teaching quality, syllabus and offering specialised training. The plan, had, unfortunately been rejected by the Shodaime, Hashirama, whose opinion had a large hold on whatever Tobirama did, on grounds of causing internal conflict within the corps, based on the partitions that Tobirama had planned.

However, looking at the nostalgic, perfectly presented writing of his Sensei, Sarutobi realised that this might not have been such a bad plan after all.

—-

Hiruzen gathered the strongest and most influential of his Shinobi Corps, plus _Danzo_, who had been most curious about what Hiruzen had planned. So, With the attention of his own personal council, he began to spin his tale on the Will Of Fire and how it had been diminished and he basically needed to revamp the Academy for this reason. Luckily, his minions bought it, as well as _Danzo_.

The Academy would be renovated with the factions in mind. It would be essential for the disputes between the Factions to always be competitive, and never exceed out of bounds. He'd need new staff for the specialized Shinobi Classes. A Genjutsu Specialist, a Taijutsu Specialist, and a Ninjutsu Specialist.

However, when the matter of the certain factions that the revamp supported came up, there were many points to discuss.

_Danzo_ supposed the cunning and sharp of mind would excel, and the other houses wouldn't be able to compete. The strongest, in his opinion.

Inoichi Yamanaka himself was known for nothing, except a few bad hacks, and being part of a team that was supposed to be good, but regarded the intelligent and acquirers of knowledge as the strongest, simply because his old pal was Shikaku Nara.

Fugaku Uchiha, the weary-eyed head of the Uchiha Clan disagreed. It was not the cunning or intelligent who prevailed, but the brave. The ones who caste away fear and stood against oppression. Those who looked at death with no fear, but as if they were reuniting with an old friend.

Last to put his two cents in, was Konoha's resident genius, and perhaps greatest shinobi ( because he held the record for most completed missions, barely pulling ahead of Maito Guy in this respect ), Kakashi Hatake, who told them quite nonchalantly that they were wrong. Strength itself was nothing. True cunning, bravery and intelligence would never be useful if they were not bonded and tied with the right motives. The strongest people were those who cared for others. Greatness belonged to those who pushed themselves further and further for people who they loved.

Most of the others in the room cringed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled. And thus, the leaders of each faction were chosen. It would be a public experiment and Danzo would have no room to go behind his back.

This would lag behind _Danzo's_ development of his Root indirectly, occupying _Danzo's_ time with moulding the children of the future as he saw fit, but of course, under the watchful eye of the whole Corporation, just waiting for an opportunity to incriminate him, not that he knew, anyways. Fittingly running 'Hebi'. The irony was not lost to Hiruzen.

The tired looking Uchiha was a much different and equally pressing matter. He was informed by little Itachi about the rising unrest within the Uchiha Clan, not that it wasn't blatantly obvious. With this, letting an Uchiha model the brave warriors of the future would not only endear the Clan Head to the children of Konoha that weren't one of his own, as much as he would try to hide it, but it would also serve as petty insurance to the Uchiha of their worth to the Village. With them running the Military Police Force, along with holding high standing positions in the future's government, maybe he could shift the hatred of the Uchiha to a more destructible target. A cowardly move, but one which he would play as many times as was necessary. Even if the Uchiha thought that taking away their Leader from active duty was simply some plan crafted by the Hokage, Fugaku himself would realise that this was a gesture of acceptance, something the Uchiha hadn't experienced for far too long. Fugaku was indeed a brave man, hence being the House Master of 'Raion'.

Inoichi Yamanaka was not the sharpest tool in the shed but constantly breaking into people's minds, and of course, going on missions with Shikaku more than what was healthy were all contributing factors in his belief that knowledge was power. So he would play the role of leader of 'Fukurō'.

Kakashi was someone who could have possibly been the leader of any of these factions, depending upon his mood. But today Kakashi has decided to abide by one of his many motto's.

'Those who break the rules are trash. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.'

And so he would be taking charge of faction 'Inu'.

Of course, he had yet to tell them that they would be the leaders of the factions that the Academy would now accommodate and would be taken out of active duty acting immediately, plus _Danzo_. He supposed it would cause pandemonium. Taking away so many of the Village's most valuable assets for something easily dismissed as babysitting. But Sarutobi knew his King, his most precious piece on the board very well. After all, were the new generation not the stepping stones to Konoha's future?

* * *

Today was a rather glum day, with the sky covered in deep grey clouds that lit the world in a way that made everything look more detailed, with no mist, fog, or sunlight to give the illusion of freshness. that let the world be seen through a clearer microscope then usual. Everything seemed highly detailed, for once.

Somewhere in the middle of Konoha, two children sat on a bench and looked at each other apprehensively.

The intense staring contest between the two little children was rather adorable. With the little boy with orange hair hunched over and wondering how he should start the game, whereas the plain looking girl with sharp eyes looked at him in mild curiosity.

"Pawn to E4," a simple enough move by the white kingdom. The girl immediately played pawn to C5, the sicilian defense, trying to force as much development as possible.

"Knight to F3," another standard move by the strawberry. The girl would continue with standard theory. Pawn to E6.

The white kingdom now thought for a short period of time, eventually settling on,"Pawn to D4."

The girl immediately captured on D4 with pawn takes pawn. It was a simple move that came to the boy's aid now, Knight captures on D4.

The laidback girl thought about this position for a minute or so, then pushed Knight to C6, not particularly targeting white's Knight but putting pressure on the position. The boy, simply played Knight to C3.

Queen to C7, by the girl, and Bishop to E3 by the boy. What followed was a stream of quick moves based on intuition,

Pawn to A6. Bishop to D3. Knight to F6. Castles by white. Bishop to D6. King to H1. Pawn to H5. Pawn to F4. Knight to G4. Queen to F3. Knight captures bishop on E3. Queen captures knight on E3. Queen to B6. Knight to E2. Pawn to E5. Confusion, Queen to G3. Pawn captures knight on D4. Queen captures pawn on E7. Rook to F8. Pawn to E5. Bishop to E7. Pawn to F5. Pawn to F6. Knight to F4. Rook to F7. Pawn captures on F6. Knight to E5. Bishop to C4. Knight captures Bishop on C4. Queen to G8. Bishop to F8. Knight to H5. Knight to D6. Rook to E1. King to D8. Rook to E7. Queen to B5. Rook to E1 from F1. Queen to D5. Knight to F4. Queen captures Pawn on A2. Knight to E6.

"I give up. You've given me a migraine," the girl complained. She did not seem surprised however. Had they played Shogi, she would have dominated it easily. Chess wasn't her forte, however, but it was Naruto Uzumaki's. Not that it mattered at all. It was a friendly game, and even if she would much rather spend her time cloud watching, her friend had been slowly insisting that she play chess with him, and by now, it would have been even more troublesome to continue turning down the offer.

"Eh, sorry Shikamaru, but it's the only board game I can play," which was true. Naruto always managed to mess up the other games like Monopoly, Shogi, and Scrabble. He was ridiculously good at a few other games, although Shikamaru had insisted that he probably shouldn't be betting and gambling at his age.

Naruto was that one friend Shikamaru had that didn't mix with her other friends, like Choji and Ino. She was even acquainted with Kiba and Shino. But Naruto never showed up when she was with them. It wasn't as if she had stopped him from coming when the others were around. In this case, it should have been quite clear to Naruto that he was welcome in the Nara Household whenever he felt like dropping by. It was also a rather advantageous fact that Yoshino turned into a Mother Hen whenever Naruto came around. It spared Shikamaru the lectures on delinquency and lazing about all day.

One fact that Shikamaru had noticed however, was that people were _different _when Naruto was around. As if there was some deep agitation related with his presence. The barely concealed twitches and sneers.

This coupled with the fact that Naruto always seemed not to notice the stares. It was something that bothered the laidback Nara more than she would admit.

"Well, I guess we can play again some other day," under the uncomfortable gazes of everyone around her, Shikamaru fought to speak normally, and surprisingly, it came out more certain than she felt, for once.

"Sure, but hey, Shikamaru, you're joining the Academy in August, right?" yes, she was. It didn't help that all the grown up figures around her were also Shinobi, that she belonged to a Shinobi Clan, and the fact that all her childhood friends, sans Naruto, were also from Shinobi Clans.

She wondered, for a bit, if Naruto would also join the Academy but quickly dismissed it. Naruto was an even more laid back person than her, a Nara. He would find it far too troublesome.

"Yeah, I bet it'll be more troublesome than I can care for, but I suppose that some part of my brain wants me to be a Shinobi too, or maybe that's just how I'm programmed," that was what she felt anyway. That some part of her wanted to be a Shinobi.

She had turned away to leave when the silence that followed brought her to look back. He looked more deep in consideration then she'd seen him before.

* * *

It was a given that Shikamaru would join the Academy. I knew that. The Nara Clan was one with a reputation for producing outstanding Shinobi, particularly a large chunk of the Research and Intelligence Department. I wondered for a bit.

"Naruto…..do you want to become a Shinobi?" it was a particularly unpleasant topic, but of course, the genius that my only friend was, she caught on fairly quick.

"I don't think I do…but," it was true. Having my dreams of being Hokage mercilessly crushed by everyone around me hadn't endeared me to the goal. But it was another thing completely that the childish desire perked up every now and then when I saw Shikamaru with her other friends.

"But?" she seemed to know the truth as well as I did.

"But sometimes, when I look at you and the other kids, talking about being Shinobi and having a set goal for the future, it makes me restless. Sometimes, I think I could do it, y'know?"

"Do what?" and here we are, the surfacing dream created from my stupidity that had been buried in my gut climbing out into a few measly words.

"I'll become Hokage, I think that was it."

* * *

Shikamaru could only watch in surprise as that buried hope and interest that she had seen sometimes sparkling in the eyes of her friend came out in full. So that was it. The dream that Naruto had once sported. To become Hokage.

"You know, when I was still in the Orphanage, I used to run around Konoha shouting that 'I'd be Hokage one day' and at the time, it felt like it could happen," her friend had given up, however, at least that was the way it seemed to her, "As you can tell, I stopped then, sometime after, I don't know the exact time. Whenever it was, I stopped believing in that goal, and that was it, for a while. But when I see you guys…...well, I can't explain it that well, but I suppose the grass is always greener on the other side."

Shikamaru might have wondered, then, about the validity of that metaphor in the context, but quickly stopped, and made a sort of strangled noise.

"I think that, if you tried, you could still do it."

He looked up at her. He smiled.

"Maybe."

And they left it at that.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen could not express his joy in words, when a week before the opening of the new Academy, the file of admission of a certain orange-haired child, the child of Minato and Kushina, lay on his desk, with Naruto giving a little but true smile in the photo. Something must have happened, then, to get Naruto to change his mind. He thanked whoever did so, wholeheartedly, and a small piece of guilt and doubt lifted itself from the Hokage's heart.


	2. Chapter 1: Crystallized

**Chapter 1: Crystallized**

**Naruto isn't mine. This is a fanmade story, purely for entertainment.**

**AN/ You made it this far! That's a great achievement in my opinion. So, if you are here, you probably wanted to read this chapter, although I can't particularly see why you'd want to do that. Anyway, you made it here, might as well continue, no?**

* * *

There was only one week left until the Academy opened, and Naruto had come over to spend the day at the Nara Compound. Only after some rather persistent invitations from Yoshino, however. Shikamaru could not be bothered by entertaining Naruto, and he was more of a family friend then a guest at this point, so it was not all that weird that both of them were just lying in the backyard and staring listlessly at the clouds.

It could be said that Shikamaru was surprised when Naruto brought up the fact that he would apply for the Academy. But she wasn't. So it was in an ever lazy conversation that this little fact was thrown about, and like all things between them, she had just nodded, and told him that she'd blackmail her father into getting them into the same class.

"Hey Shikamaru, you haven't played chess with me in weeks."

Naruto was clearly abusing the fact that he was skilled in the game against her. It was enough to experience a feeling akin to getting lost in a dark forest where all her calculations were moot, _sometimes._ She wondered what it would do to her self-esteem to lose to Naruto consistently. After all, hidden deep emotions and all, he was still Naruto and she was still a _Nara_. She had to be confident in her intelligence at least, right?

"You haven't played Shogi with me for months."

Ah, the traditional strategy game. It was Shikamaru's home stadium. While chess made her feel uncomfortable, Shogi felt unbelievably easy to her. It was as if her opponent could never do anything that would remotely surprise her. Except her father. But she had daddy's girl privileges over him, and Yoshina would always scold him for beating Shikamaru, so he would admit defeat even if he was winning. It was truly wonderful to be the only daughter sometimes.

"Touche."

She had heard that the academy had changed drastically. Despite what people might have been led to believe, admission to the Academy was never available for everyone. Out of the many hundreds of people who applied each year, a rough total of somewhere in the range of 60-120 children were entered, based on their backgrounds and relationships with active shinobi, if any. But to balance it out, plenty of civilian children were in that 120 as well, since there weren't that many Clan children to begin with. But still a huge number of almost completely civilian applications were rejected.

Having a Clan to back your application was always good, even if it was unfair. It had been the reason she had insisted Naruto give his admission slip to her, and she'd get her father to pass it onto the Hokage directly. Along with her application as well, of course. Speaking of the Academy,

"Only a week left huh?"

Naruto looked up towards the clouds, watching them move slowly and restfully.

"Yeah."

Naruto didn't seem to hesitate as he said so. After all, since she had known Naruto, he had never been one to make half-assed decisions, and he probably hadn't started now. The fact was that the Academy would be different, her blackmail didn't have enough leverage to get her father to spill the 'how?' and from this point on she'd be surrounded by fellow Clan kids who would restlessly try to compete.

Well, at least he would be the same old Naruto.

"It'll be troublesome."

Call her typical, but it was true.

"Yeah, my energy reserves are going down the drain for this," the ever infamous energy reserves making another appearance. Naruto decided half of his matters based on how much energy he felt he had left. This was saying something since it had been Naruto who told her that he had an infinite source of energy. But he decided to never drink more than a drop out of the ocean. The thought scared her more than she could admit. Imagine what would happen if Naruto _did _use all his energy all the time. ( Canon storyline flashbacks ensue. )

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in his office, smoking the old pipe. With only a handful of days left until the academy opened, he had to do a last minute check-up of the plan as a whole. It wouldn't be very challenging, given how well he had managed to paralyze the whole village in such a short period. In truth, he meant he had managed to temporarily hold off all the ongoing headaches that had been ruthlessly beating him down.

Danzo, no doubt up to no good, was actually actively taking part in this project. It was only a given that he would do so, plotting something again. After all, Danzo was the shadow that he, the Hokage caste. The madness and insanity that followed a road of good intentions. But this Shinobi Institute, as Hiruzen thought of it, would be crawling with a small army's worth of competent Shinobi, just as much, if not more so, then Danzo. Any chance Danzo had of slithering away would be crushed by lions, hounds and a rather wise flock of owls.

The ANBU Commander had stopped by, only perhaps, a week or so earlier, and offered one of his ANBU, Tenzo, in order to quicken the structural renovations that were made to the Academy, using the Wood Release that the Shodaime had been so competent with.

The old staff of the Academy would return to active mission duty to assure that there would be a small quick gain to trade for a large loss and a potential bright future. This excluded the med-nin, whose services would still be required in the Academy, and a Chunin, one Iruka Umino, who was as brilliant at sorting paperwork as the Hokage himself, sans the part where he went mad from overwork.

His specialised classes would incorporate Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu. Any student could pick one, to all three of the specialised classes, although what idiot would do so was incomprehensible to him.

Teaching the Ninjutsu Class would be Kakashi Hatake, also serving as Faction Leader for Inu, because, well, he had managed to copy and utilize a thousand Jutsu, so he was the best teacher for the subject the Hokage had available by a longshot, aside from the small detail that the Hokage actually had no clue how competent Kakashi was as a teacher in the first place, given the previous psyche reports and whatnot. Plus the fact that Kakashi would be more overworked then he had been in days, as always being late wouldn't hold here, and he would be taking specialized classes along with leading the progress and teaching route of an entire faction.

But, those were personal demons that Kakashi would have to overcome.

Teaching Taijutsu, was none other then Maito Gai, who would surely push his new students to their absolute limits while also teaching the grace and ferocity of hand-to-hand combat. Gai was also probably the most natural teacher out of his absurd staff, as he could relate with the worthlessness and the breaking spirits of some of the children, who, no doubt, would be crushed by the new regimen of the Academy.

Finally, and one of Hiruzen's most ingenious ideas, if he said so himself, were the, not one, but two Genjutsu Specialists who would be teaching the children. Have a random guess, go on!

You have one? Great.

Who did you think it was going to be?

Kurenai Yuuhi, perhaps? Another allrounder like Kakashi, someone like Anko Mitarashi?

Well, the Hokage would like to inform you that you were all wrong. And with these thoughts, the Hokage let out a childish laugh, confusing the hidden ANBU in his office, and promptly fell asleep on his desk, another day of work over.

* * *

It was evening at the Nara's, with Naruto hanging around as a plus one. Shikaku had come home too, but had immediately caved himself into his bedroom, from where he smoked and watched the clouds from the open window. It would have been embarrassing for Shikamaru to say that her father acted like a kindergartner who took a nap everyday after work, had she not done the same thing, sans the working part.

Of course, going to take a nap when you had a friend over would have been discourteous, as her mother would constantly remind her. So she forced the ever indignant Naruto to take a nap too, and they both heaved a mattress for Naruto to lie on from the attic. This was an advantage of having Naruto over. Ino and Choji would have gotten the bed, but Naruto would always take the mattress for some reason. So she closed her eyes and tried to relax. She 'shushed' Naruto and fell asleep, with exactly one hour to rest, before her mom finished cooking the dinner.

Ironically, now it was Naruto's turn to watch the sky through the open window, because his unhealthy habit of sleeping late made sure that none of his muscles could relax.

**One Excruciatingly Slow Hour Later.**

Shikamaru woke up to the sound of her father struggling to remain in bed, with Yoshino pulling his leg with unmatched strength. The yelps and pleas to let him stay for a few more moments probably woke up the whole clan, who were all also taking a nap. Naruto, who had been awake to hear and, secretly watch the whole ordeal grinned from her door.

"They've been at it for almost ten minutes," well, you couldn't really blame her father could you? It was an understatement to say that the Senior Nara worked hard. He was probably the most overworked person in the village, right after the Hokage, and let it not be forgotten that Shikaku was also a Nara, and hard work came to him as easily as it did to a turtle.

"Well, we might as well head down to the dining room, or we'll be next."

Naruto readily agreed.

It was a wonder how for once all of them had managed to get to the dining table in one piece. Naruto being the awkward grenade he was, didn't start eating until everyone else had already taken a bite. This was odd, but like it did to everyone, circumstance affected Naruto's choice. Had this been Ichiraku's, Naruto would have been eating like a maniac, but now he was acting like a posh retard. She would have pointed it out to him, had it not been amusing.

Dinner was a fairly normal and quiet affair, until desert showed up, which seemed to signal Shikaku to finally say something, or the more concerning matter, he was worried Yoshino would put something in his ice cream if he continued to act like a distant uncle.

"So, uh, you two will be starting the Academy on monday, right?" so this was what he would be talking about. Jesus, he didn't know how to make conversation, or was steering the mood this way intentionally. Both of them nodded.

"Hmm, well, I can't tell you anything about it right now, but you'll have an interesting four years, or less, but I would recommend taking all four years, for the both of you."

This was new. The Academy had always had a general stereotype in the Shinobi Corps. for being rather…well, easy. There were examples of children passing within a single year, so it was odd to hear someone say that they should take the whole complete four year if they could.

"Eh? Why?" Naruto brought up the question that had been rolling in her head, until the answer became rather obvious.

"So the Training Regimen has changed that drastically?"

He only nodded his head in confirmation.

"Just about everything has changed. You'll surely have noticed the structural renovations of the place. For one thing, you'll find that the bar for the mere rank of Genin has been set almost unbelievably high. To put things in perspective, these first batch of Genin to come out of the program have been expected to at least rival most of the fresh chunin in the current Shinobi Corps."

Well...that was just...outstanding. The Shinobi Ranks had always been far apart, with Chunin having an unprecedented advantage on most Genin with Jonin being in a league of their own. To think that the Academy was so different now...well, one part of her screamed 'troublesome' and the other part was filled with excitement coupled with anxiety. Naruto was also in a similar state of mind, it seemed. Becoming Hokage had gotten a whole lot harder.

"It's not only more difficult, but it's cutting down the numbers rather problematically. The Hokage is betting a lot on the fact that this is a time of indefinite peace. I doubt even half of the expected graduates will make it through, but I could be wrong. Well...the ones that do make it through though, well, we'll have a bright future, if this works out."

"Well, it wouldn't be fun if it wasn't difficult," came casually uplifting logic from Naruto, who as expected, would never back down on his word now that he had begun the journey of a thousand steps.

More interesting, for Shikamaru however, were the genuine smiles on her parents' faces, with that look of remembrance that screamed nostalgia.

Her father laughed, "Yes, it wouldn't be, would it?" _Minato_.

* * *

As it would happen, the next time Naruto would see Shikamaru would be on the first day of the Academy. He himself had been busy as well, trying to sort out his mess of a bedroom and get the syllabus and tools that were on the list that Shikamaru's dad had provided him with. He had then taken the list to the Hokage, and bothered him until he got one of his ANBU to get his stuff for him, instead getting rejected as a customer from each store at a time.

**Flashback No Jutsu!**

"Jiji! I need a favour."

"What is it, Naruto?"

"I need someone to get my shinobi gear."

"Neko, go get Naruto's shinobi gear."

"Hokage-sama-"

"Please."

"H-hai."

And then Neko proceeded to Shunshin away. Naruto was lucky that the Hokage was sober, and had immediately caved. He didn't want to explain himself now, after all that hiding and secrecy. At this point Naruto had no idea that Sarutobi knew all about Naruto's troubles. He did not have an all-seeing crystal ball for nothing, did he?

**Kai!**

The syllabus was rather interesting, with a few history books that would be a pain, but other books like **Genjutsu For The Blind**, **A Technician's Taijutsu**, **Ninjutsu; The Art Of Creativity**, and for the fundamental syllabus, **Traps For Beginners** ( Naruto had happened to have already read this particular book, along with all it's other installments ),** Hollow Coils And Chakra**, and **Shinobi; The Element Of Surprise**, among others.

As for tools, Neko had picked up a handful of the normal tools like Kunai and Shurikan, and as a gift, threw in what he assumed was a standard katana, urging Naruto to learn using it at one point or another, offering help if he ever found her free. It was an entirely unnecessary but heartfelt act from the one ANBU who had probably had to deal with his antiques the most over the years. Naruto had been left speechless, and had tackled the surprised Neko, after which the Hokage spent a good half an hour getting his poor ANBU guard free.

As far as clothes were concerned, he wore a blackish-grey turtleneck and pants of the same color, the strange swirly print that seemed to mark all of Naruto's clothes sewn on both shoulders and back. It was a seemingly normal outfit, but again, Neko had picked it, so it was special to him, anyways.

When he greeted Shikamaru as Ino and Choji had just walked off, presumably to meet with their other friends, Shikamaru nodded in greeting.

"How's it going?" she spoke, in the tense atmosphere at the gate of the imposing figure of the Academy.

"Good. You?"

"Good. Although I can't say I'm all that happy."

"What happened?" Naruto would be confused, wouldn't he? This was the day they'd been talking about weeks prior.

"Ino knows how they'll be testing us, since her father is one of the new staff members. She won't spill though," ah, so Ino was playing the classic, 'I know something you don't', which Naruto would have thought wrong of her, had she not done so against Shikamaru, who rarely didn't know something you knew-

"Wait, test…?"

Oh boy.


	3. Chapter 2: Overdose

**Chapter : 2 **

**Overdose**

**AN/This is the third official post made for this story. High School started up again so I'm not getting much time, hence the short chapter. I really loved this idea, however, and was interested in branching out from here on. Please enjoy, and if you are up to it, leave a review. I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts.**

**Naruto isn't mine, by the way. **

* * *

To say that Naruto was unprepared would be a gross understatement. For one, he was sweating. For two, the weird ticks in his hands had decided to make an appearance.

But Naruto wasn't going to start hyperventilating. Not yet, anyway.

"But, test, like, a test, _test_?" that was the major point of discussion, at least, in Shikamaru's mind.

"What? You don't think it'll be a test either?"

So this was the main problem.

"Nah, not a test, but still, in words, a test."

"That makes no sense."

"Yeah."

That was problematic, to say the least. A test that wasn't really a test.

"Well, since we're all technically already admitted," it was true. There were certain student ID's that were made this time around, and as far as they knew, these had already been distributed amongst the candidates that had already made it past the initial selection. Seemed like a useless effort If they were going to narrow it down further.

"So, maybe an aptitude test?"

This was a line of thought that both of them followed.

"Shit."

"Yeah."

"Nah, not really though," not an aptitude test, since they wouldn't interfere with the already running batch of classes that had come back after the holidays. They had been moved to a separate building, which would be continuing the old routine. So, this meant that the candidates that were going into the academy this year would be the first ones to pass through whatever the new procedure was.

Aptitude would assign different levels, different levels meant different years, and different years meant problems, for everyone, so that was out.

"Making groups?"

"Teamwork based groups?"

"Well, that must be part of it, I think," there was the only other option they could divine from their unfair play. Proportional groups. Made sense.

Shikamaru had counted the candidates.

"Four-ish groups?"

"Same group then?"

"Yeah. What group?"

"..."

Of course, they had loosely guessed that they'd choose the same answers for the test. It was a gamble, since it could be that the sorting would put one of each kind into each group, which meant they were screwed. Either way, Naruto was sure he'd somehow get sorted with Shikamaru anyway. It just so happened that Shikamaru and Naruto always ended up dealing with each other by sheer luck.

* * *

It was only a matter of time until a man walked out of the academy doors, and immediately everyone's attention was drawn to him. The man had a stern, scarred face, and eyes that darted in every direction. It was only natural that the civilians felt chills when they laid eyes on the imposing figure, and for the shinobi present, who knew this man to be Morino Ibiki, the feeling was intensified.

As curious whispers started in the crowd forming in front of Ibiki, who had yet to move a muscle, Naruto and Shikamaru stood back, but still made their way to the centre of the grounds, to hear Ibiki more clearly.

With a cough that sounded more like a growl, he spoke,

"As soon as I call your name, you will make your way up and into the building, where you will see a sign leading to the Examination Room," he pulled out a folder, presumably the list, and hushed rambling broke out amongst the crowd again.

Despite both of them being fairly confident in the fact that they wouldn't be tested based on their skills, they still felt a rush of anxiety.

"Inuzuka Kiba."

And so the list began. Each name was called almost five minutes apart. Every five minutes, Ibiki made the effort to look at his wrist watch.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Tic.

"Neji Hyuga."

Tic.

"Choji Akimichi."

Tic.

"Ino Yamanaka."

Tic.

…

Tic.

…

Tic.

"Shikamaru Nara."

Shikamaru's head made a sudden jolt, she had gotten relaxed in the weird mood that had settled amongst the crowd.

"Well, I'm off, I guess."

Shikamaru started making her way to Ibiki, as Naruto gave her a wave and whispered, "Good luck!"

"Thanks."

* * *

Naruto was bored. It had been over half an hour since Shikamaru had left. Obviously, they had been right, since none of the kids who had gone inside had come back out, and slowly the parents had made their way back home, content that their children had made it. In truth, Naruto had seen the little letters that had been handed to each parent via crow, which explained why they had already left.

Meanwhile, Naruto was content with counting the leaves on the tree he was sitting under, as over two hours had passed since the Academy had officially opened, but, the majority of the candidates were still outside. This whole thing would last at least ten or so hours, with the pace and number of children still outside. So he supposed the first day would be nothing but initiation.

What confused Naruto were the timings. Ten hours from 8AM would mean that the school would let out at 6PM, which were absolutely ridiculous work hours, but of course, it wasn't as though Naruto would complain.

While he was pondering his crazy schedules from this day on, the time slowly ticked away.

* * *

Naruto considered himself _somewhat _patient. He could work with what he had, at least. But this seemed far too ridiculous even for his standards.

It had been ten hours.

Ten. Hours.

He had a right to be angry. There was only him and another, nervous looking kid left.

"So what's your name?"

He wagered that he would be the last to go, as was what happened with all things when Naruto was concerned, so he might as well make some meager conversation while the kid was here.

"R-Rock Lee."

That was a strong name, was what occurred to him first.

"Well, I'm Naruto Uzumaki," the boy looked up at him, and Naruto observed that he had the most round eyes he had ever seen, "Nice to meet'cha."

"S-same here."

Just as Naruto had started a conversation, Ibiki called Lee.

"Rock Lee."

"H-Hai!"

Lee stumbled towards the entrance, as Naruto watched him go. Lee didn't have a parent here. He had been all alone.

Naruto watched.

"I'll see you around, Lee."

* * *

The sky was gray again, as Naruto observed. It was the most beautiful color, in his opinion. Shame he would be going inside in a moment.

Shikamaru liked clouds. Naruto just seemed to find the sky peculiar, and more then once, magnificent. In fact, the sky was always magnificent, it just took one some time to realise.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto's eyes met Ibiki's, and an unspoken recognition passed between them. Naruto nodded and made his way into the building. Ibiki smiled.

"Good luck Naruto."

It was a little known fact that Naruto was close to so many Shinobi in Konoha, as most civilians would usually just overlook his comings and goings, more concerned with the matter of keeping him isolated and away from their children at all times.

* * *

When Naruto entered the academy, he felt the most fuzzy feeling of happiness he could not explain.

There would be no going back from here. This was where he would become a shinobi. This was his home.

The hallways were long and well-lit, with rowdy classes making noise left and right, the doors closed, forbidding Naruto from seeing what was going on inside. He reached the sign mentioned, and entered what he assumed was the Examination Room.

Naruto wasn't one to be scared about something like a test, but as he felt himself lose grip on all feeling in his body, he couldn't help but wonder, as all his surroundings faded to black, whose eyes could be such a sad colour of red.

Somewhere, deep in the corners of his mind, someone smiled.

* * *

When Naruto woke up, he didn't seem to recognise his surroundings that well. He knew where he was but he had no idea how.

A bar.

He was at a bar. It wasn't a traditional bar either. It had every little extravagance that you would expect from a bar at, perhaps one of the richest hotels in the capital of Fire Country.

It was an amazingly intricate and seemingly fun place. Except for one little setback...he was the only one there.

There was a single bartender. A young woman? He supposed so. Red hair, and scrutinising blue eyes.

Naruto supposed that she would have looked rather frightening had this been a different setting.

There was also something eerily nostalgic yet warm and welcoming about this person, but Naruto couldn't figure out why. She looked up at him, her eyes not really meeting his.

"Your drink?"

…

"I'm not an alcoholic."

The woman snorted.

"There's orange juice too, you know."

Naruto looked at her with interest.

Nod.

The lady took the glass she was wiping clean, and seemed to reach down for something, what he discovered was a jug of orange juice, and poured him a decent amount.

"Ice?"

Nod.

Naruto set himself down on a stool and took a sip.

"You do realize that your current circumstances are rather worrying, and I'll add, unexplainable?"

Sip.

"Yes. But I'm not in any immediate danger am I? I'm trying to figure it out. I'm not really a loud thinker."

The irony of _immediate danger _wasn't lost to the lady, apparently, as her eyebrow twitched in amusement.

She brought out a little flask of her own, popped it open and took a sip. Naruto took this little action at face value, of course, wondering what was in the flask.

"Well, best not make any assumptions this early...but...I suppose you _are_ right. No immediate danger, for now, at least."

Naruto eyed her even more curiously. He couldn't read anything off this person, at all. She seemed so nonchalant, clearly enjoying his rather odd predicament. She also seemed to rather enjoy his company.

"There was supposed to be an evaluation."

She looked at him.

"Oh, that. You think this is _that_?"

She seemed even more amused, apparently, as the strangeness of this situation made Naruto's stomach churn.

"It isn't…an illusion?"

The woman pondered his question.

"A Genjutsu you mean? No, I broke that. This is quite different. Fret not, you'll be back to your 'home' soon enough, I'll only borrow a few minutes of your time.."

So that was it. Naruto wasn't Shikamaru, but he was clever enough to know that this lady was somehow aware of his thoughts, at least up to now. She didn't seem the least bit bothered, even if she knew his line of thought.

"So...where?"

The sound of slight humming rang through the bar. The song was quite beautiful, perhaps, a bit out of tune. She stopped suddenly, as if this was where the actual song would abruptly end, quickly, and painfully. It was at this moment that Naruto's back froze in something akin to unholy nostalgia. He didn't know who this person was, but wherever he was, something was very, very wrong.

"Hmm...I can't say. But we have a few minutes, why don't you...guess?"

She smiled. It was a loving smile, so odd and misplaced. Naruto would ponder later, if he had just hallucinated the strange red glow in her eyes.

* * *

**Ending Notes: so, this is pretty interesting, for me to write, at least. Enjoy, and leave a review, if you have some time on your hands..**


	4. Chapter 3: Everyone Lies

**Chapter 3**

**Everyone lies.**

**AN/ I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

The wooden tiles creaked under the pressure of the stool Naruto sat on. The vibrant and exotic smell of wine floated through the cold air. The woman, who had yet to introduce herself, looked at Naruto with an odd sort of curious expression, as both of them shifted into some weird pause at the centre of discussion.

"This is all in my head isn't it?" That was the conclusion Naruto reached after three or so minutes of consideration, while also silently pondering how many more he would have to spend in the presence of someone as unnerving as the woman before him.

"Quite. Although, perhaps, that is loosely where _this _is, but not totally."

The sound of the glass being wiped clean with what he assumed was a small towel kept interrupting his thoughts. It didn't help that the place reeked of alcohol.

"Then, you aren't real?" The woman smiled again, this time, it wasn't a loving smile, but a dazzlingly cunning and mischievous one.

"Oh dear. Unfortunately, this being inside your head won't change the fact that I am _very _real. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. You being inside your own head means a few things doesn't it?"

"If I'm here...my body? What's happening to my body in real life?"

The woman seemed pleased with this response, if her long and toothless grin was any indication.

"Well, time moves here incomprehensibly faster than it does outside. That being said, currently, your body is under a vacant possession."

Naruto didn't follow this line of thought, apparently, and was about to question further when the woman clicked her tongue.

"Well, really! It means that while your consciousness is here, your body, or the part of you that works with involuntary action is still up there!"

The odd burst surprised both of them, it seemed. Naruto was a little bit disconcerted by the sudden shift in demeanor, but it seemed to be the least of his concerns.

"So, why are you keeping me here?"

"To talk."

…

"...about?"

"I was interested. There are four groups right? I got that much by just hearing your thoughts on broadcast here, but I wanted to know why you wanted to go to the _teamwork_ based faction."

"Because I figured the other ones wouldn't be as simple."

"...simplicity? You chose teamwork based on simplicity?" The odd cutting edge with which she spoke seemed to get a rise out of Naruto.

"Well, no. Teamwork is probably the most crucial part of a Shinobi's career."

The woman sniffed disdainfully.

"But you don't believe that, do you?"

"..."

"You want to believe it. But there are so many examples, so many lone wolves, so many warriors, so many geniuses. You don't believe in teamwork. You're inspiration is the Yondaime, after all. He's famous for being a practical one-man army."

Naruto clenched his fists. This was spinning out of control. The woman made dangerously accurate guesses. Or maybe she had always known.

"Now listen-"

"No, I don't think I will. You fear that while being a shinobi is a stepping stone, you'll never have the individuality to become Hokage," she interrupted.

She looked rather irritated. It was true, Naruto wanted to be the Hokage, not just a normal Shinobi. He was arrogant, foolish maybe, but the idea that he may never amount to anything more than just an average Chunin or even Jonin tore into him like a flock of crows, even though he knew that even a Chunin was leagues beyond what he could rationally ever hope to accomplish.

"Well, what can I say, I was expecting a lot more from you, oh well," her ability to switch between moods had honestly shaken Naruto up. One moment she'd look at him with some sort of strange joy, then she'd look stern, and finally just become snappy and quick to anger.

The world began to shake. Naruto became aware that his senses were fading. The place no longer smelt like wine, and the floor didn't creak. The tiles started floating in air, along with the rest of the world. The woman started disappearing.

Naruto just stared.

"You didn't tell me your name."

"You didn't tell me yours."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Kurama."

Something struck Naruto as strange about the name, but before he was able to place his finger on it, he faded.

* * *

Incidentally, when Naruto woke up, he was already assigned to the faction "Inu" which as he had guessed, was the teamwork based faction. He was informed by a tired looking boy who couldn't have been much older than Naruto himself. He had raven hair and deep and dark eyes. He smelled of fresh papers. Although this teenager, whose name Naruto had not asked, was the only one in the examination room, Naruto could not relate the deep crimson gleam that he had seen when he entered the room to the kind-looking senior who greeted him. So, Naruto being who he was - asked.

"A-ano, where you the one who placed me in the Genjutsu?"

The boy made an effort to smile, but seemed to fail miserably.

"Yes, that was me. Hokage-sama asked of my services for the new regimen of the Academy."

"And the red light..?"

The friendly boy appeared slightly exasperated.

"Oh! You..noticed that. That was the Sharingan. It's...an inherited ability, of sorts…"

Naruto felt that there was more to it than that, but he didn't want to cause any sort of discomfort to a total stranger, so he left it at that. The boy was seemingly a nice person, if extremely tired and stressed, he didn't deserve the problems that Naruto rained down on the other civilians.

"Wow, that must be tough."

Although Naruto felt completely the other way. For Naruto, an inherited power that helped his path as a shinobi would be a godsend. But there were two sides of each coin, so Naruto supposed it would be rude to assume.

With great power comes great responsibility, after all. The boy must be more burdened than Naruto could imagine.

"I'm Naruto."

"Nice to meet you Naruto, I'm Itachi."

Naruto made his way out of the room, feeling Itachi's solemn eyes glance at his retreating back for but a moment before turning back. There was something strange about the way Itachi talked, but perhaps that was superstitious.

* * *

Shikamaru was annoyed. She had been one of the very first to be sorted. Which meant that she had waited for Naruto, with nothing better to do. She had been the third to be assigned to the Faction. The only interesting person to come after her was a Shino Aburame. A quiet looking boy who Shikamaru had played with before.

The sorting had been Genjutsu based, an artificial reality in which they were tested for their responses in certain circumstances. It had been relatively easy to figure out, but that might have been Shikamaru over-generalizing her own opinion.

Shino had come and sat to her right, in the large Common Room decorated with objects of the colour white, with white banners with 狼 printed on them hanging from the walls. The ceiling was made from glass panes, a little detail which instantaneously made Shikamaru a fan of whoever their faction head was. The clouds were visible in all their glory.

So she decided to just cloud watch until their new Sensei - or Naruto, showed up. Neither would happen for a very _very _long time.

* * *

Danzo had come to the conclusion that he had been playing all the wrong cards before. Now, as it would happen, the majority of the Uchiha had come to him, under the direct orders of the Hokage even. He'd have to be wary however, there was dangerous characters lurking everywhere in these halls, and one thing that Danzo knew for sure was that Shisui would be watching him. Always.

* * *

**AN/Please review! I'm desperately interested in hearing your thoughts. I'm painfully aware that the story is slow paced and nothing interesting is happening, but hopefully the next chapter will clue you in on some of the more exciting things. Thank you for sticking around so long. **


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